Lights, Camera, …What?!? Book 1 Chapters 34 and 35 by Sofia Hammerstein

Connor Slane has grown up to be one of the brightest kids in his dimension and one of the most ambitious computer science majors at his top university. Now, thanks to an exchange program between his university and his mother’s alma mater, Emerson University in another dimension. Connor has the chance to forge his own path in computers and his other love, filmmaking. Having seen still images of their amazing holographic films, he hopes go to Emerson, and then return to build his own empire - and maybe even find his true self, as his mother did.

Beth Sylvester is a Tweener herself and another child of influential parents in the other dimension. Her wealthy Big mom is the daughter of a disgraced former CEO, and her dad is the first and only Tweener to serve on the Supreme Court. Connor’s mom and Beth’s dad were good friends while she was in the dimension, and they’ll quickly discover that they enjoy hanging out with each other. They’ll also discover that if either is going to survive to the end of the semester academically or as mature adults, they’ll need to help each other out. If not, Connor could quickly find himself on the one-way road to being adopted by some Big, and Beth might not be far from that fate either…

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The Legal Stuff: Lights, Camera, …What?!? By Sofia Hammerstein
 

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Copyright © 2023-2026 Sofia Hammerstein.
 

 
 

Chapter 34: Teetering
 

I WATCHED AS Kelly thankfully moved to the back of the room. As others filed in, I couldn’t help but think a few of them looked at me like predators! Fortunately, I kept up a conversation with Will, and I had some hope for a few relatively normal people to be in class with. Even if those normal people were three times my height!

Doctor Gibney eventually got our attention and began class, “Good morning, everyone! Welcome to Screenwriting I!” He smiled, and a holo-presentation started, “Here in the Emerson Film department, we pride ourselves in as hands-on of an experience as possible, so this will be a very practical-based course. Throughout this semester, you will have three projects you’ll be responsible for creating.”

I saw a projection of three sets of words standing on a facsimile of old film reels. “Unlike most of your classes, we’ll begin with the longest project first.”

I noticed some of the class make sounds at that, which he seemed prepared for based on his chuckle. “Because of how this class works, by Thursday, you need to have at least an outline of a script for a forty-two-minute pilot episode for a show.” There was a collective gasp in the room, “Yes, that is a significant length for the full script, but for an outline, we’re not going to need all forty-two-plus pages of the script yet. For the outline, I expect the overall plot to be visible, characters listed and described, and between twenty to forty shots and scenes storyboarded.”

I felt my head pounding at the storyboarding; that alone would take way too much time!

“Now, the reason for this rush on this project is the third Thursday of class; you must have this turned in via the online submission portal. That weekend the Cinematic Narratives class will begin selecting which scripts they would like to select to shoot for each of their groups. That class will be responsible for bringing your creations to life with support from our makeup and costume studio classes.”

“This is going to be impossible,” someone behind me breathed.

‘This is going to be insane, but also really cool!’ I thought to myself as he went into more detail on the requirements for the project, as well as listed the information for the short film that was our second project and the thirty-second commercial that would be our final project.

“Any questions on the projects?” He asked.

I heard a familiar voice, “Any restriction on what we can write?” Kelly asked.

“Nothing that would be illegal would be my request. From past experience, the scripts should avoid being too controversial if you wish for them to be selected to be filmed. Films should primarily feature college-age students or older for groups to think they’re attainable enough to choose them.”

A few other questions passed, and I wondered what Kelly would want to write…?

We had about eighty minutes left in class when he explained the projects. So he began going into terminology, style, and other information we should incorporate into our scripts. I knew most of the formatting and concepts from my studies back home, but it was good to hear his perspective and expectations.

I also appreciated that he walked us through some specialty software available, including figures and artwork easily manipulated into storyboard boxes. I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized that was something I wouldn’t have to hand sketch!

All of that was crammed into the first ninety minutes. As we were nearing the end of class, I definitely began feeling like a potty break was needed as soon as class ended! It wasn’t bad enough. I wasn’t worried about wetting my pants yet, but I suspected that state was closer than I would like!
 

BETH LOOKED OVER the syllabus for Signals and Systems and couldn’t help but note this was yet another math course! It was Fourier and Laplace analysis items, z-transformations, and more. It seemed she would never get away from Calculus and other advanced math equations this semester. Given that the other students in the room probably felt the same, she figured she’d get through it. ‘At least I have that filmmaking class this afternoon; it should be fun!’ she thought as she stood from the room and walked out.

Reila walked beside her, “That class is going to suck,” she said.

There was a squeak then as Beth looked ahead and was surprised as she turned to see Reila suspended in the air by an extra tall Big girl. The girl was probably her mother’s height and had Reila easily in her grasp, with the skirt of her dress flying up into the air to show off her dark blue panties.

“Little girl, you do not cuss!” the girl admonished her.

“Please put my friend down; she’s not a Little,” Beth told her calmly, seeing that the girl most definitely wanted to spank Reila.

“She might as well be!” the girl countered.

“She’s not, though, and if you proceed to assault her like I think you’re about to do, I’ll be forced to make a complaint to the police. If you don’t put her down, I’ll call them in five seconds.” Beth did not like getting into it with Bigs but couldn’t let a friend get beaten.

The girl stared her down as Beth reached for her phone and started to dial.

“Fine!” The girl said, roughly pushing Reila to the floor and walking away.

“What the hell is wrong with that girl?” I heard another Tweener ask from the side of a doorway they appeared to have hidden in.

“Time of the month?” Beth suggested. “Hope she doesn’t come across any Littles; we could still report her if you want, Reila?”

She looked again at Reila and realized she was crying and encircled her in a hug, “It’s okay, Reila,” she told her sobbing friend.

“I’m so tired of this crap!” She complained a few moments later as she sniffled and got herself back together.

“I know,” Beth told her. “Let’s head to the restroom and give you a chance to get your face back together.”

Reila nodded, and the two of them found a nearby restroom that was thankfully empty apart from them. Beth stood guard over the door as Reila went into a stall, “Oh no!” Beth heard her cry from the stall.

“What’s wrong?”

“No!” Reila quietly hissed.

Beth put the pieces together, “Do you need a new pair of panties?”

“This isn’t fair!” Reila complained.

“No, it’s not, but I have a spare pair in my bag if you need them?”

“Really?” she said.

“Really,” Beth said. Reila came out, and Beth was grateful her friend had worn a skirt that day, so after a quick change of panties, she was fine.

“What should I do with these?” Reila asked, embarrassed.

“Throw them,” Beth advised, “Last thing you want is to have them in your bag if someone checks!”

Reila nodded and redid her makeup quickly before asking, “What are you doing now?”

“Heading to lunch; you want to join me?” Beth said.

“Please…”
 

I LEFT CLASS as quickly as possible and had to dodge a few giants to make my way out of the room. I had gone from needing to go to desperately needing to go pee in the span of five minutes!

I hadn’t felt this close to peeing my pants since I was a kid out at a camp playing capture the flag and not wanting to waste time going to the bathroom. That day I had wet my pants, and I worried that would be my fate this day as well!

Each step seemed harder to control my bladder, and I was beginning to wonder if I would make it just as the door to the bathroom was suddenly in front of me.

That’s when my feet suddenly left the ground!

“Where are you going in such a hurry, Little boy?” I heard as my body was manipulated onto the hip of the last giant I wanted to see.

“The bathroom,” I said.

“Well, let’s see if you’re even still dry now!” Kelly smirked. “You looked like you were doing the potty dance pretty well during class!”

With one hand, she ripped apart the snaps on the pants I was wearing all the way down to my ankles showing off my blue Pull-Up, which still had its fade when wet designs showing at least.

“What cute whittle baby panties you’re wearing!” She cooed at me. “If you wet them, I can put you into a nice dry diapee instead!”

I saw her hand begin to go towards tickling me when I heard a clearing of a voice, “Um-hmm!”

I looked over and saw Doctor Gibney.

“Umm… Hi, Professor,” she said.

“Hi,” he said. “Now I need to go to the restroom, and I think that’s where this young man was on his way to before you tried to interrupt him. Why don’t you put him down, and as long as he doesn’t have an accident, I won’t make you have one when you fail my class?”

I was gently sat down, even as I was barely holding it still. It was physically painful to hold it in as I managed to shove past Kelly, open the door, and look at the too-tall urinal. I pulled down my unsnapped pants and Pull-Up, but before I could contemplate my step-stool, a strong pair of hands lifted me in the air high enough to reach just as my bladder burst open.

I sighed in relief, even as I wondered who was holding me up like a toddler to the potty.

When the stream finally ran out, I heard, “All good?”

I was sat on my feet and pulled my Pull-Up back up to avoid being naked in front of Professor Gibney. I blushed solid red, “Yes, thanks for the help.”

“No problem; you need a hand with all those snaps?” He asked me.

I blushed but shrugged, “I guess? You don’t have to, though?”

“Nonsense,” he said, picking me up and setting me down on the bathroom’s diaper change station. “Even managed to keep your Pull-Up dry through that little witch’s stunt; good for you!”

I sat still as he closed the many snaps that Kelly had ripped open to get to my Pull-Up. When he was done, he carried me over to the sink and held me there to wash my hands. “Thank you, Professor,” I told him.

“It’s no problem. One of my grandsons never reached past the Little height mark, and I despise anyone who picks on you all like they did him.”

“Well, thanks…” I awkwardly said, “I’ll see you in class Thursday.”

“See you Thursday,” he agreed and walked towards the urinals for his needs as I opened the door to walk out.

‘That was a close one,’ I couldn’t help but shudder as I walked towards the dining hall for lunch.

With only a couple hours until the dreaded Little Seminar began, I decided to eat in a corner and hope to get some studying done. I found a booth that was one of the mixed ones. With the aid of the booster from my bag, I could easily reach the hamburger and fries plate I had, and my computer and I began scratching together some ideas for this screenplay I had to write. ‘All of this in two days?!?!?’ I worried.

I sketched out an idea using some of the stories Grandma had told me from the weekend about an autonomous project she’d been involved with, starting the Mars colonies that were now a small thriving city in this dimension. Tessa had been tweaked for several years to prepare her for the project. Grandma’s advancements with nanites and AI had allowed nearly single-handedly her part of the project to build the facilities for that colony before a single human had to be involved.

I decided that could be a fun beginning of a plot line but going to Io instead. The crew arrives to discover the AI holograms have taken on a true life of their own and have no clue what to do with the humans. It was sort of a horror and comedy sci-fi twist, and I thought it would work well in my head, at least.

I had finished the last of my fries and was creating a timeline and my fifteenth scene when I realized someone was sitting across from me. I looked up to see it was Mackenzie.

“Umm, hi,” I said. “Have you been there long?”

She laughed, “Like five minutes? Do you always get so lost in your work?”

I shrugged, “When I like what I’m doing?”

“What are you working on?”

“Homework for Screenwriting, our professor gave us an impossible assignment to have completed by Thursday. Hoping I can get most of it done today, though.” I looked at her, “Honestly, the early lights out time will put a crimp in getting everything done as easily.”

She nodded, “I’ve heard that complaint. The other side of it, though, is that if you have more rest, you can be more effective and work faster and more accurately?”

I shrugged, “I guess. Did you need something?”

“Actually, I needed two things. One, I received an email from your Screenwriting professor informing me that you had been the victim of an attempt at bullying. He said a girl, Kelly Danvers, attempted to prevent you from going to the bathroom?”

I blushed, “That’s what it seemed like, I guess…”

She nodded, “He was certain of it, so he’s put in a complaint to Dean Northrup. She’ll be warned by the university, but I have been told to make sure you notify us of any further issues from her. She’s already been on the radar because of her friend over there,” she tilted her head towards the Amazon ‘Little’ sitting in an overgrown highchair. I noted the pink bib she was wearing seemed to be covered in baby food that her nest mother was spooning into her mouth and intentionally missing.

“Okay,” I said, nodding. “The other thing?”

“I have permission to keep you out late for my night off tomorrow night. There’s an event at the Union for a spicy eating contest?”

“And you want me to hustle a bunch of Bigs?” I smirked.

“Maybe…?”

“What do you get out of it?”

“Time with you, and I’ll make some bets on the side?”

“My end of this?”

“Swimming each day not enough?”

I nodded, “True, okay, deal!”

“You really can eat spicy food, right?” She asked.

I laughed, “Yeah, I’ll be fine, I’m guessing.”

“Well, I’ll let you get back to studying then. See you after your classes.”

I watched her leave and looked at my watch. I only had a half-hour before the seminar, so I hopped down, put my booster away, and hit the restroom before finding my way to Destiny Hall. ‘I wonder if the propaganda is the same as when Mom was here?”
 

BETH HAD WALKED with Reila to lunch at one of the other on-campus restaurants. She thought she needed something besides the dining hall and treated her friend to a soup and sandwich combo place Beth liked.

“I’m so sick of being seen as a Little all the time,” Reila vented. “Do you get that often?”

Beth nodded, “Sometimes… I mean, I’m taller than you, but I’m still the size of a first grader? My siblings are probably the worst about picking on me about my height, but at least they’re not doing it to be really mean.”

“And they’re not likely to put you into a diaper?”

“That shouldn’t happen to you either, Reila,” Beth assured her.

“I’m afraid my luck will run out soon here. Yes, I’m bigger than a Little, but I would certainly fit into a preschool class without any problem. Then they can have their potty-training failure dummy to point at…?”

Beth shuddered, “Just keep an eye out where you’re at… and don’t draw attention to yourself by swearing. That girl should have realized you didn’t have the Little’s uniform on!”

“I think it might actually make it harder to be adopted if I was a Little,” Reila said.

“Huh?” Beth asked, truly perplexed. “How in the world would it be harder?”

“Have you noticed all of the law reforms that have been passed all specifically tailor themselves to Littles? I think we have fewer protections at this point!”

Beth had never really considered that. “But we still don’t have the auto-adoption laws in place for Littles?” she countered.

“Mark my words; in the next few years, I bet we see just as many Tweeners being adopted.”

“I hope you’re wrong,” Beth said morosely.

“Me too,” Reila said as she finished the last of her food. “Thanks for lunch, Beth… and for helping me; you didn’t have to? That was risky to help me!”

Beth laughed, “I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror if I had walked away. We just both have to hope we can avoid any more attention! This semester has already been way too much excitement for my taste!”

“You heading back to the dorm by chance?”

“Yeah, for a little bit to work on homework before my next class.”

“What’s next for you?”

“Cinematic Narratives – it’s like my only fun class for the semester.”

“Cool!” Reila said as they walked back together, “Thanks for lunch.”
 
 

Chapter 35: Scenes
 

I FOUND MYSELF walking inside Destiny Hall, where my mom had sat thirty years ago. The lecture hall and building had been relatively new then, so age had definitely taken a toll on the hallways. Inside, it seemed like they must have undergone a recent renovation, though, as paint and furnishings seemed as updated as the classrooms I’d been in.

I’d run into Ava and Amy on my way inside, and we sat about four rows back in the auditorium. The room filled with about a hundred students as people took their seats.

“What is this class?” Ava whispered to me.

“Propaganda 102,” I replied. “My mom always described this class as being one session after another about so-called Little Rights, but really being about you’re better off turning yourself over to Student Services to be adopted.”

Ava made a face at me, “Adopted? Really?”

I nodded, “We’ve already had a few students go the hard way. Noah definitely was sent to probably an orphanage or etiquette center,” I whispered to her.

“What’s an etiquette center?” she whispered back.

“We can’t talk that openly here,” I told her, “But think of a brainwashing clinic plus surgeries to make a perfect forever baby.”

She looked horrified, “Why did you come here if you knew all of this? I never believed any of the rumors!”

“Well, I was Betweener size back home!” I reminded her. “The tech was worth it, though?”

“I’d go home right now if we could,” Ava said nervously.

“Don’t even suggest it,” I told her just as Dean Northrup made her way up to the front of a podium, and an enormous holo-screen behind her flared to life.

‘Welcome Back, Griffin Chicks!’ it read.

“Not condescending at all…?” I heard Ava mutter.

I elbowed her gently and said, “Shh!”

“Good afternoon, boys and girls; I hope you had a great Winter Break from studying!” Dean Northrup said. “This is our second semester of Little Seminar for you freshmen, but we have a brand-new group of Chicks here from several other dimensions! Would those exchange students please stand up, and everyone else, please give them a warm Griffin welcome!”

I begrudgingly stood with Ava and Amy for a second before sitting down, growing taller with the booster on the chair than I had been standing!

“We know it’s a big transition for most of you to our dimension with the larger size of everything than you’re used to, but we’ll do everything we can to help you settle in!”

The screen changed to ‘Updates’ and featured a picture of a pile of Pull-Ups and some diapers.

“Today’s seminar will be shorter than normal, as today we just want to make sure you are aware of some updates and remind you of some rules since you returned. First, we’ve received many complaints from your nest mothers that we haven’t been stocking enough options for our smallest Chicks. With that being said, we have struck a deal with a couple companies to start stocking Pull-Ups in Little sizes that should fit down to those of you who are only forty-four pounds. We also have a dozen more prints and brands of diapers for those of you to give you a variety of more fun options. Your nest mothers will have a brochure for you to look at tonight, and you all may select up to four more products per person to have stocked in your rooms.”

‘How exciting! More options for diapers!!!’ I thought sarcastically. A glance at Amy, though, showed she was actually kind of relieved. Only then, as she squirmed and her skirt flashed up, I remembered she was stuck in diapers with no other options.

“Next, we have completed a renovation in three buildings, Marconi, Euler, and Kilby, with new changing facilities if you need a diaper change. We’ve partnered with our AI department to create a new HoloCare Center in each! Each center is capable of caring for eight Littles needs simultaneously in each of those rooms. Changes are generally possible in two minutes or less! We hope to reduce the need for you to travel back to your nests as often. Of course, the care center will return any information for your potty charts to your nest mother.”

‘Of course!’ I thought. ‘At least they probably won’t abuse you,’ I thought. ‘Kelly changing a diaper certainly would not be a friendly person,’ I shuddered at that thought!

“There are eight different caregivers in those centers with their own personalities; we hope you’ll find yourself comfortable there when you visit!”

Warning signals were going on in my head then, but of course, I kept quiet. Some squeaking of the folding lecture hall chairs signaled the discomfort of the other Littles.

“Two more things, and then we’ll wrap up for today. First, the university is looking at reducing the number of accidents in Pull-Ups before we mandate better protection. A survey of professors and nest mothers indicates a lot of leaky garments last semester that resulted in fabric cleaning needed on chairs in classrooms and other areas. The student government will vote on the proposal during the elections next week. The move would change the current three wet accidents per day, or fifteen per week, to two wet accidents per day, or eight per week. Poopy accidents would change from two per day, or five per week, to two per week.”

There was a good amount of grumbling at this change.

“Now, I know no one likes having fewer chances, boys and girls, but we have to look after the health and safety of the campus! We do want to make it fair, though, so it’ll be a proposition on the ballot next week. Make sure you vote how you feel there, and the rest of the student body will as well!”

She paused for a second, “Remember, normally, after eight weeks, you are allowed to try again to regain your Pull-Ups or big kid pants, but we do insist on a cooling-off period for everyone once you are asked to wear more absorbent garments.”

I kept my mouth shut, and almost everyone else did too. “Eight weeks?!?” Someone shouted, “I have to stay in diapers for eight weeks because I’m getting poisoned by someone?!?” I turned, and I could see a boy from our exchange group on the other side of the lecture hall. Luca wasn’t someone I had interacted with much in the last week, but the puffiness of his pants showed he was back in diapers.

“It’s okay, little one; you’ll get another chance.”

“This is fucking bullshit!” he said.

I watched simultaneously as Dean Northrup’s eyes narrowed, and she seemed gleeful. “Would you please come up here, Little boy?”

“No!” he said.

I sighed, counting the demerits in my head already.

“I won’t ask again,” she said coolly. “You have until the count of three to be moving up here! One…”

I looked over at him and saw he was planted.

“Two…”

He started moving; I hoped he was showing some sense. Then he turned on the spot in the aisle and walked up the aisle away from her.

“Three!” She sighed, “Bring him up here, please,” she said.

Only then did I realize at least a few of the nest mothers were present. Madelyn roughly grabbed him and took him up to the front of the room with him kicking, screaming, and cussing the whole time. Despite the physical fight she was engaged in with the small boy, she was smiling sadistically the entire time.

His struggling did no good; even with Luca being bigger than I was by more than a foot-and-a-half, he was like a preschooler fighting with a mother at best. She easily held him, and his kicks to her side and stomach did no damage.

“Well, that escalated rather quickly,” Dean Northrup said as she approached him. I watched as she found a chair to the side and sat in it, motioning for Madelyn to hand him over. Northrup yanked his pants down as the giant woman pulled him over her knee. The rip of the diaper tapes seemed amplified, and I watched as even he struggled that she calmly handed it to Madelyn, who balled it up and looked on with glee. Seconds Dean Northrup’s hand began hitting Luca’s bare butt-cheeks, making everyone jump in their seats!

Each smack was so loud I worried he wouldn’t have a rear left when she was done!
 

BETH WAS GLAD to see Reila was doing okay and ran into Cassie as she left the dorm to head to the Matisse center for her next class.

“How were your classes so far today?” She asked her.

“Haven’t had one yet,” Cassie smiled at her.

“All late classes today?”

“Yeah, it kind of sucks that they go till nine tonight, but it still beats waking up for a morning class!”

Beth nodded, “I bet that would be nice!”

“You?”

Beth shrugged, “This is the semester from hell, I’m afraid; my workload is nuts!”

“I saw your schedule; I believe it!”

“Yeah, I’m hoping this next class will be fun, at least!”

“This is your film class?” Cassie asked.

“Yeah, I knew a couple juniors who took it last year and said it was their favorite elective class. It’s a serious class for the film majors, but they open it up to non-majors to have more than enough people to do the projects.”

“This is the one they actually film movies in, right?”

“I don’t think they’re full-length, but yeah. What do you have now?”

“Watercolor I,” she smiled. “I’m also getting one non-serious class for the semester.”

“Should be fun,” Beth said with a smile.

They had to pass the daycare on their way to class. She felt her blood grow cold as she noticed Dean Northrup walking beside one of the nest mothers carrying the sobbing form of a Little with the bottom half of their uniform missing. They still wore their uniform coat, but she knew what that walk meant. As they passed, she smelled that the diaper needed to be changed, too, even as the boy said, “Just let me go home! You can’t do this to me!!!!” Or at least that’s what Beth interpreted his sobbing snot filled speech.

When they had gotten far enough past, she said, “Poor guy.”

Cassie nodded, “Sounds like one of the Portal Littles. Glad it wasn’t Connor.”

“Me too; hopefully, he’s smart enough not to push things that far!”

Beth walked with Cassie into the building and found her way into the large projection hall used for the lectures and planning for this course. It featured stacked levels of seats and desk chairs behind tables to spread out notes on. She noticed a certain head of long blonde hair and smiled.

“I didn’t realize this was the class you were talking about?” She said to Connor, who was just climbing on his booster seat.

Connor turned towards her, and a frown became more of a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, “Hi Beth, I guess I never asked which film class you were taking!”

“May I sit next to you?” She found herself asking.

“Sure,” Connor said, moving his bag to the other side of him from her on the table.

“What’s wrong?” She asked quietly.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve only known you a few days, but it’s obvious something’s wrong?” Beth insisted.

“Just got to watch another of our dimensional exchange group bite the dust,” Connor said with a shrug.

“One, I know?” Beth asked, even though she really didn’t want to know.

He shook his head, “No, I haven’t hung out with him at all. He was in one of the other nests because he was closer to six-feet tall.”

She nodded, “So they are arranged by height?”

“They said they’re not, but it would be an awful coincidence otherwise,” Connor told her.

She nodded, “Yeah, it would be. So how was your morning class? Didn’t you have another film class?”

He actually smiled then, “Yeah, screenwriting. We’re actually writing the scripts that will be the projects for this class.”

“Oh? That’s cool!” Beth said genuinely. “What are you writing about?”
 

I WAS ABOUT to fill Beth in on my idea when a professor stood at the front of the classroom, and the lights went out. A really cool Holo-Movie sequence suddenly filled the room with light, and the sound from the speakers literally shook my lungs with the bass. “Cool!” I couldn’t help but exclaim!

I watched a sequence of images come together into an apparent studio graphic used by the university film program, and the lights returned to their normal setting.

“Good afternoon! Welcome to Cinematic Narratives; I’m Professor Wyler! This is one of the first major courses for our Film students and a great introductory course for those of you who might be in other majors. Our philosophy here at Emerson is there is absolutely no way to teach you everything you need to know about filmmaking in a semester or even a four-year course of study. So, we’ve chosen to make Cinematic Narratives a crash course in film. This class will explore the latest industry cameras for holo-productions, directing, creating scenes, sound effects, and basic acting coaching.”

I felt like that was too much for a single course already!

“Now, the cool thing about our course is that we are not operating as a stand-alone course but as a collaboration with several other courses and studios through the university. This morning students in the Screenwriting class were given a project to write the scripts for their first projects to film. They have until Thursday to complete an outline and storyboarding and then another week to have a completed script for a forty-two-minute pilot TV episode or short film. That prevents you all from having to write your own scripts!”

He paused and smiled; the beard on his jaw was white and highlighted his face. “Unless, of course, you’re taking both courses! I know we have nine of you who are doing so. Can I get you all to stand up, so everyone can see who they can use for resources?”

I stood then and turned to look around. My blood turned cold when I realized Kelly was in the class too! She saw me notice her and winked at me.

I turned forward, sat back down, and listened to the next part of his speech, talking about the other related courses. Apparently, the theatrical department had a makeup and costume studio set of classes that would be helping us with costumes and makeup for actors. When we completed our films, there was a film music composition class that would create musical soundtracks for the films. It was more like the real world than expected in a college setting!

“So, you may be asking yourselves, what’s first?” He smiled, “Well, first up for you has got to be an introduction to the ideas behind framing a scene...”

Fortunately, I had taken three semesters of photography and a semester of Intro to Cinematography back home, so I was pretty comfortable with the basics he taught. The main missing piece for me was how these Holo-Cameras worked and how you focused everything with lenses on focusing your eyes properly with the Holo-Lenses. He wasn’t kidding when he said it was a crash course because there were probably three semesters of photography shoved into one ninety-minute lecture.

“Now, on Thursday, during the second half of our class, we will be focused on practical hands-on applications of the concepts I have just been teaching you. We’ll divide you up into your groups at that time as well. Eighty of you are in this course, and we’ll be creating four ‘studios’ for your projects. I know many of you will be asking to be with a friend or something, but keep in mind we have already picked these groups based on skills we know you have. Those groups will be posted along with your modules on the course site in about an hour. If you don’t have any other questions?” He paused, “Very good! Have a good evening!”

“I have a feeling this is another heavy workload course…?” Beth sighed as we stood up, and she stretched.

“This’ll be the fun one, though?” I said. “At least you’re not in the screenwriting class too!”

She smiled grimly, “Yeah, I don’t envy you there. What are you up to now?”

“Was planning to return to the dorm and get some dinner?”

“Want to skip the dorm and have an early dinner with me? The dining hall will be opening about now.”

I looked up at her, “Sure!” I paused, “Let me message Miss Mackenzie, though!”

I received an okay message, and the two of us enjoyed having dinner with each other. I learned more about Beth and her siblings as we sat there. Soon we were joined by Cassie, Livy, and a new friend of hers, Reila. Reila wasn’t there long before she and Cassie headed off to late-night classes that Littles would never be allowed to register for!

By the time I reached the dorm, I only had two hours remaining before lights out, so I focused on cramming for my morning classes and anything that wasn’t done. I also managed to get the final work done for my math class, and with just about fifteen minutes left, I scrambled to write my screenplay outline. I was only two scenes away from finishing the basics when Mackenzie said, “Okay, Kits, go use the potty, brush your teethers, then come see me for your nighttime diapees!”

I wasn’t the only one who groaned then. Still, I saved my work, shut down the school computer I’d been using to create the outline on their software, and headed to the bathroom with a small caddy. I brushed my teeth first since all the stalls were taken, then rotated in to go to the bathroom. At the changing table, she said, “Oh my, Connor, you managed another day of perfect stars!”

I blushed, “Thanks...”

She held me up to the chart to put my stars up, and I couldn’t help but note that Liam no longer had a potty chart. “Where’s Liam’s?” I asked quietly as she laid me down.

“Oh, silly boy, he doesn’t need one anymore,” she said with a smile. “No need to have one since he’s just using his diapees!”

“Oh,” I said. I thought back to my memory of the potty charts and how many frowny faces and poop stickers were on most of the charts. If they went through with that proposed change for standards to be moved to diapers, I felt I would be the only one not in diapers in my nest.

I wasn’t the final one in my pod that night, probably only the third to be put to bed. From my pod, I watched Mackenzie quickly diaper and dress the rest of my nest mates. I couldn’t help but note it seemed like she took more time on me than the others. Liam was the last one that night, and it was clear the diaper was not only wet when it came off. “Poor guy,” I thought and turned away from the clear outside to give the guy some privacy.

‘I can’t believe it’s only been two days of classes!’ I thought as I closed my eyes and attempted to get some much-needed sleep!
 
 

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you did so and press the Kudos button! I should still be posting a couple times a week until this is fully posted here on BC, but the days the next couple of months will be a bit fluid due to real life. This first full novel is complete (73 chapters plus Epilogue) and published on Amazon if you wish to be impatient though! I hope to have Book 2 published there in the next few months as well.

All of my published works have AI read audiobooks available for them. I’ve spent some time tweaking pronunciations, and they’re pretty good when you can’t afford thousands to pay for audiobook creation! They’re a $1.99 addon to the $6.95 price on Kindle. If you’ve already purchase the book it should come up as only $1.99. They’re also available on Audible directly, but that’s $10.95 versus the cheaper price! https://www.amazon.com/author/babysofia